


Stuck

by Poetgirl925



Series: Contact [2]
Category: Timeless (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Flirting, Romantic Angst, Self-Defense Lessons, Sexual Content, Unresolved Romantic Tension, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-05
Updated: 2017-06-26
Packaged: 2018-11-09 03:49:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 20,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11096274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Poetgirl925/pseuds/Poetgirl925
Summary: Companion piece to "Contact." - Tension between Wyatt and Lucy comes to a head as Wyatt deals with feelings of jealousy for the first time in years, and Lucy wonders why he's pulling away. Meanwhile, a time jump to the early 20th century has them stuck in more ways than one.





	1. Chapter 1

Lucy shook her hands, which felt strangely heavy with the boxing gloves on. “Now what?”

It was her third week meeting Wyatt for self-defense lessons and he’d changed things up today by suggesting kickboxing. Though she’d been skeptical when they began the lessons weeks ago, she was proud of herself – both for sticking with it and for being better at it than she thought she would be.

“You need to practice punching,” Wyatt said. Hands on her shoulders, he guided her over to the punching bag. “You’re still not locking your wrists when you punch. You’re going to break your wrist or your hand the way you’re doing it right now. You’re also not generating enough power to do any real damage.”

“I don’t think I have the upper body strength for that,” she pointed out.

“It’s true that you don’t have the same upper body strength that an opponent might have, but there are ways you can compensate for that. Now, you’re right handed, so you’re going to stand with your left leg forward, right leg behind you. Keep your legs shoulder width apart, like this – maybe even a little wider.”

Lucy tensed up when she felt his hands on her hips.

He leaned into her for a moment, his mouth next to her ear as he murmured, “Relax.”

Relax. Right. She’d laugh if she could find the breath for it. His hand was moving down her right leg now, and was he kidding her with this?

“You need to bend your knees a little.”

“You couldn’t just tell me that?” she asked, turning to look over her shoulder at him.

“Hands on instruction is always best,” he replied, and his mouth tilted up in that smirk that she found cuter than she probably should.

Rolling her eyes, she turned back to the bag and threw her first punch. “Ow.”

“Felt that, huh?”

“A little.”

“Keep your arms pulled in toward your body – there’s no reason to pull back like you’re doing. You’re going to use your hips to put some power behind it, okay? Like this.” His hands were back on her hips, helping her through the fluid movement. “Now, as your hips move, keep your arm at shoulder height and punch the bag.”

Lucy was surprised to find that her punches landed much more solidly when she used her hips to power the movement. Wyatt stayed behind her, guiding her and occasionally correcting her stance. She tried to stay relaxed but the heat of his body behind her was a distraction, as were his hands. Every time he touched her she couldn’t help the way her body stilled, as if waiting for something more.

The next time he spoke, he cleared his throat first. His voice was husky as he said, “You need to breathe out before you punch – before you make contact with the bag. It helps loosen your muscles.”

So, she wasn’t the only one affected here. The realization was satisfying on a basic, primal level. Lucy rolled her shoulders in an effort to shake off the tension, inhaled, and then concentrated on exhaling as she punched again.

After a couple of tries, Wyatt said, “Better. Try making a noise as you exhale.”

“What?” She turned to look at him and raised her brows. “Like a karate noise or something?” Amy used to do that when she sparred, but Lucy couldn’t quite imagine herself making those kinds of noises.

“Trust me. It helps you keep time with your breathing. It’s also not a bad distraction since it can throw off your opponent.”

“Fine.” She turned back to the bag, got into position, inhaled and then cried out on the exhale. “Aye!” It wasn’t exactly the noise she meant to make.

There was silence behind her and when she looked over her shoulder, Wyatt looked like he was biting back a laugh.

“Nice,” he finally said. “Very Pirates of the Caribbean.”

She rolled her eyes and turned back to the bag. “Shut up.”

They practiced for another fifteen minutes, and the next time Lucy looked up it was to find Rufus and Jiya had arrived and were watching from the bench near the wall.

“Alright, that’s good for today,” Wyatt told her. Cocking a brow at Rufus, he added, “You’re up, my man.”

“Awesome,” Rufus said with a sigh.

Lucy gave him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder as she passed him. While Rufus had agreed to the self-defense lessons before she did, she could tell it wasn’t his favorite activity.

“You look like you’re having fun with this, or at least more than you were in the beginning,” Jiya said as Lucy sat beside her.

“It’s getting easier, I think. There’s almost a science to it – learning the right way to stand and hold my body means I’m not as clumsy as I thought I’d be. I just hope I can remember it if I need to. Amy always said that muscle memory takes over at some point, but I’m not so sure.”

“Wyatt offered to teach me too,” Jiya said, smiling as she watched Rufus raise his hands and get into position.

“Are you going to take him up on it?”

She shrugged. “Yeah, eventually. I don’t think this Rittenhouse problem is going away any time soon, and we all have personal security in our down time now. I guess it’s not the worst idea.”

No, the Rittenhouse problem wasn’t going away any time soon. Her mother was still going about her life since there was no evidence linking her family to the organization or to the disappearance of the mothership. Agent Christopher had held Carol Preston for questioning for two days but when her lawyers got involved, the order came in to release her.

Lucy privately wondered if Rittenhouse still had highly placed members they didn’t know about – she suspected that was the real reason Christopher had been ordered to release her mother. She was kept under surveillance but hadn’t done anything suspicious as far as Lucy knew, though she hadn’t actually seen her mother since the night she told Lucy about her Rittenhouse ties.

_With Carol right behind her, Lucy had immediately started packing her bags, intent on getting away from the woman who now bore so little resemblance to the mother who had raised her and Amy. Carol continued pleading her case as Lucy emptied drawers into her suitcases she’d only recently unpacked after moving out of Noah’s house._

_Then Wyatt appeared in the doorway to her bedroom, and she’d never been so relieved to see him._

_“Master Sergeant Logan, I presume,” Carol said, raising a brow at the gun he carried. “Is that really necessary?”_

_Wyatt ignored her. “Lucy?”_

_“She’s part of it,” Lucy said. “All of it. They’re going to take the mothership.” She felt a horrible, queasy feeling in her stomach when he gave a slight head shake. “They already did. How did you know where I was?”_

_“You weren’t answering your phone so Christopher tracked it,” he said. “Get the rest of your stuff together and come downstairs.”_

_Lucy paused as Wyatt waved her mother out of the room. Looking around, it hit her that this was it – the last bit of normal she had left was her mother and this house in which she’d shared so many memories with her family. But her sister was gone, the father who had raised her was gone, and her mother wasn’t the same person she remembered._

_She wanted to cry so badly she could taste the tears in the back of her throat. Instead she took a breath and kept packing._

Since that night she’d been living in a Homeland safe house. The apartment building was small, but the apartment wasn’t bad. A little soulless, maybe, but it was functional. The weirdest part was that she was the only resident – or she had been until the afternoon she returned from a grocery run and found Wyatt moving boxes into an apartment down the hall from hers.

And despite the fact that she had twenty-four hour security on site, and two agents stuck with her whenever she left, she couldn’t deny that she suddenly felt safe in a way she hadn’t since leaving her mother’s house.

Lucy left Jiya to watch Rufus’ lesson and went to shower and change clothes. They were going to the bar later for dinner and drinks, so she took a little extra care with her makeup and coaxed her hair into loose waves. Her jeans were casual enough, but she dressed them up with a silky, green tank top and a new pair of kitten heels.

It wasn’t a date. She and Wyatt often went out with Rufus and Jiya, and it only made sense for them to take one car now for trips to Mason Industries or to meet their friends. The routine had just fallen into place after he moved in to the safe house.

But sometimes it all felt very date-like. Like they were both testing the waters.

She rejoined Jiya as the guys were finishing up, smiling at how pleased Rufus looked with Wyatt’s encouragement. He might have a general distaste for the outdoors and self-defense, but she could see he was proud of himself for holding his own in the lessons.

It was at times like this that Lucy could see why Wyatt was so good at his job. As a Master Sergeant, he would have needed the leadership skills necessary to build up his team members, and to keep them cohesive and working as a team. Pulling them out of the weeds, he’d called it once when relating the story of one of his past missions. God knew he’d pulled both her and Rufus out of the weeds more than once, and they’d learned to do the same for him. 

Wyatt grabbed a towel from his bag and wiped his face.

“So, these self-defense lessons made me think that you and Rufus could benefit from some American anthropology lessons,” Lucy said.

“Don’t we kind of get that on the fly, Professor?” Wyatt asked, smiling at her.

“Well, you get history lessons on the fly. Anthropology is more like customs of the time. Social etiquette, how to take tea, maybe some dancing lessons.” She tried not to laugh at the expression on Wyatt’s face.

“Tea lessons? Really?” His suspicious glance indicated he thought this was somehow her idea of revenge for him pushing her into the self-defense lessons. “Rufus, help me out here.”

“I mean, it’s not the worst idea,” Rufus said, grinning. “We never know what kind of situations we’ll find ourselves in.”

“You seriously want to take tea and dance lessons?” Wyatt asked, incredulous.

“Oh, not me. There’s literally no place in American history where the black dude is expected to know these things. I’ll totally come and watch, though, in the spirit of team camaraderie.”

“We’ll talk about it later at the bar,” Lucy told Wyatt.

He raised his brows. “Right. So you waiting around or meeting us over there?”

“Meeting you over there,” Jiya said as she stood and grabbed Lucy’s hand. “Sorry, but I’m starving so we’ll order the first round and appetizers while we wait for you.” She gave Rufus a quick kiss and then pulled Lucy behind her.

When Lucy glanced behind her, Wyatt was still watching them. She smiled and waved before following Jiya out.

* * *

 

Wyatt showered and changed quickly. He was waiting for Rufus on the mezzanine above the control area where the lifeboat was kept when he saw Agent Christopher walk out of her office down the hall. She waved her hand in his direction, her expression serious enough to spark concern.

He followed her into her office. “Is something wrong, ma’am?”

“I’m not sure. Have you ever heard of a group called Reliant?”

“They’re a paramilitary group with ties to the CIA,” he answered. “Their headquarters and training camps are in Virginia – they were actively recruiting me about two years ago. Why?”

Agent Christopher handed over a couple of photos. “Lucy’s security detail clocked a couple of their members tailing her. They weren’t being as secretive as one would expect.”

Wyatt took the photos as he tried to tamp down on his sudden anger. Two men were photographed in a dark sedan, and he wasn’t surprised when he recognized one of them. “This guy driving, I don’t know. But the other guy is Steve Walker. We were in basic together and he was part of my unit up until he joined Reliant a year ago.”

“I’ve spoken to my contacts at the CIA and no one ordered surveillance on Lucy. So whatever they’re doing, they were hired privately.”

“You think it’s her mother?”

Agent Christopher sighed. “I suppose that’s the best case scenario. I don’t trust Carol Preston but in two days of questioning, I never saw any evidence that she wanted to harm Lucy.”

But she would spy on Lucy. Wyatt had observed a few of the interviews in order to get a read on Carol Preston, and one thing he was sure of is that she didn’t like that she’d lost the control she previously exercised over her daughter.

“I’d like permission to have a little chat with them,” Wyatt said. “They were being open about surveilling her. Walker might talk to me.”

Agent Christopher considered it for a moment before nodding. “Fine. Let me know if you find out anything.”

Wyatt barely listened to Rufus as he drove them over to the bar, and Rufus noticed his distraction.

“Is something wrong?” he asked. “I saw you coming out of Christopher’s office.”

“Nothing I can’t handle,” Wyatt said. He scanned the area as he drove by the bar, and as he expected, a dark sedan was parked across the street. He pulled into a nearby slot that another car had just vacated. “I’ll meet you in there in a few minutes. There’s something I have to take care of.”

Rufus hesitated but finally crossed the street to the bar. Wyatt strolled down the sidewalk until he reached the sedan. Walker was leaning against the passenger side. “Logan. Good to see you, man.”

“Walker.” Wyatt clasped his hand in a brief handshake. “Long way from home base.”

“Well, you know how it is. You go where the action is.”

“Right. And this time it’s Lucy Preston?” When Walker didn’t respond, Wyatt said, “Come on now, you obviously know about my connection to Dr. Preston since you let her security detail get a look at you. I know I trained you better than that.”

“You know, I was surprised when I got this assignment. Pretty history professors don’t usually need to be put up in a safe house, and they definitely don’t need a security detail. Must be one hell of a special project she’s working on for Mason.”

Tired of tiptoeing around the topic, Wyatt asked, “Who hired you?”

“You know I can’t discuss the clients,” Walker replied. “But if it puts your mind at ease, we were hired as extra protection. Me tipping you off is a courtesy since she’s a special friend of yours.”

Walker’s tone suggested he thought Wyatt’s involvement with Lucy was personal, but Wyatt was careful not to react to the implication. “You can report back to whoever hired you that she doesn’t need extra protection.”

The other man shrugged and smiled. “Hey, it’s a paycheck, right? A damn good one too, in case you’re interested in another meeting with the CEO.”

“Pass, but thanks.” When Walker opened the car door, Wyatt added, “One more thing. You can tell Carol Preston that Lucy doesn’t need anything from her. And anyone looking to go after Lucy will have to go through me.”

The brief recognition that passed across Walker’s face was enough to confirm Wyatt’s suspicions about who had hired them.

Wyatt waited until the sedan pulled away before going into the bar. Spotting Rufus and Jiya at their usual table, he joined them. “Where’s Lucy?”

“At the bar. She ran into an old friend,” Jiya said. “I think he’s just published a book or something because they’re pretty caught up in a history discussion.”

Wyatt looked over at the bar and sure enough, Lucy was perched on a stool talking to a tall man with rumpled blond hair and wire-rimmed glasses. They seemed to know each other pretty well – the man was comfortable enough to touch her arm as he spoke, and Lucy didn’t pull away from him. She was usually reserved with people she didn’t know well.

“Maybe he’s an old boyfriend?” Rufus asked. “Ow.”

Wyatt glanced at Rufus to find him rubbing his side and Jiya giving him a look that clearly said she thought he should shut up.

Rufus wasn’t wrong though. The guy was around the same age as Lucy, and there was something almost intimate in the way they talked. They leaned toward each other, both using their hands a lot as they spoke. He also didn’t miss the way Lucy’s face lit up in response to the discussion. He took a moment to study the guy – pressed slacks, a white button down shirt, and a blazer were obvious signs he hailed from academia. It was a world he and Lucy had in common.

Something hot rose up in his throat, something he hadn’t felt in a very long time. Jealousy. For a moment, the scene shifted and he was back in that dive bar with Jessica, watching her flirt with her ex-boyfriend. He shook the memory away and grabbed the pitcher of beer to pour a glass.

Wyatt was tempted to leave and go home, recognizing that he wasn’t going to be the best company that night. But if he did, he suspected Lucy would call an Uber car rather than ask Rufus to drive out of his way. If he left he’d worry the whole time about someone following her, maybe taking her. Whatever Carol Preston was up to, he didn’t trust her.

After another ten minutes of watching Lucy and her friend at the bar, he wanted to knock back something harder than a glass of beer. The irony was that the situation wasn’t the same as Jessica at all. Lucy wasn’t trying to make him jealous. She wasn’t his wife or even his girlfriend. He knew he had no right to be mad at her, but he was.

And maybe this right here was the reason he’d been holding back with Lucy. Because if there was one thing he couldn’t afford, it was to repeat his past mistakes when doing so could get her hurt, or worse.

By the time Lucy rejoined them, Wyatt had gone completely non-verbal, only speaking when spoken to. Even then his answers were short. Rufus and Jiya left soon after and Lucy ordered their food to go after shooting Wyatt a puzzled look.

“What is wrong with you?” she finally asked as he held the door open for her.

“Nothing. I’m just tired.”

He scanned the area as they walked to his truck, but there was no sign of the Reliant detail. He only saw the usual agents assigned to Lucy.

Back at the safe house, Wyatt deposited Lucy in her apartment and escaped into his own. He wasn’t hungry so he put the food in the fridge and poured a glass of whiskey, taking it to his bedroom. He sat on the edge of the bed and stared at the box he could see on the closet floor.

All of the clippings and evidence he’d collected about Jess’s murder were now in that box. He’d meant to put them back up after he moved into the apartment; instead, they’d remained in the box. Wyatt drained his glass and stripped down to his boxers and t-shirt. He kicked the closet door shut before he turned off the light and went to bed.

**A/N: This will be at least 2 parts, maybe 3 depending on chapter length. It follows a couple of weeks after “Contact” – I was given two prompts to use for this companion piece. “Wait a minute. Are you jealous?” (Lucy) and “Looks like we’ll be stuck here for a while.” (Wyatt) – the prompts come up later in the story. The title is also symbolic of where Lucy and Wyatt are at the moment, with regard to their personal relationship.**

**Please forgive any errors. No beta, so all mistakes are mine. If you see something very wrong, please tell me because tired eyes don’t make for the best editing.**

**If you’re reading, thanks! I’ll get the rest up this week. And if you want to discuss the show, you can find me on Twitter and Tumblr, also as Poetgirl925.**  

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

 

Lucy stared at Wyatt’s door. She’d already knocked and though he didn’t answer, she was almost certain he was in there. His truck was parked outside for one thing, though she supposed he could have gone for a run.

Still, something had been off with him at the bar. She was tempted to keep knocking, figuring she could wear him down if he really was inside. It wasn’t the first time he’d been moody by a long shot, but it was the first time in months that he’d withdrawn like he had the previous night.

After a moment of indecision, she went back to her own apartment. It was Saturday morning and they were supposed to go to Mason Industries later – she had some research to complete as a follow-up to their last time jump, and Wyatt had begun training with a few other soldiers assigned to Homeland, as well as a few of the agents. Something Wyatt had said made her think he was concerned about keeping his own skills sharp.

Turning on some music, Lucy busied herself with cleaning her apartment and catching up on laundry. When she was finished, she started reading the book her old friend, Brian, had just published. He’d done some fascinating research on Colonial American customs, which they’d talked about at the bar, and their spirited debate was a taste of normality in a world that had become increasingly bizarre. She’d almost forgotten what it was like to talk about history and anthropology in a purely academic manner since she was usually spit balling facts while she, Wyatt and Rufus ran for their lives.

She and Brian had exchanged numbers and planned to meet for lunch on Monday, assuming Emma didn’t jump before then. She’d been quiet for a few days, which was her pattern – unlike Flynn, who’d jumped more frequently and to large scale events, Emma seemed more interested in tweaking history on a smaller scale. It made her agenda increasingly difficult to predict, and it was Lucy’s job both to look for historical changes and for a connection between them.

She’d read and made notes on four chapters of Brian’s book when she heard the knock on her door. She glanced at the clock, realizing she’d lost track of time as she let Wyatt in. “Sorry, I need a minute to change and grab my workout bag. I was reading and didn’t notice the time.”

Five minutes later she returned to the living room where Wyatt was sitting on the sofa, paging through Brian’s book. Faint dark smudges beneath his eyes betrayed a sleepless night, something they all dealt with on a regular basis. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but something was different this time.  

“I guess this is the book you and your friend were discussing last night,” he said. He placed it back on the coffee table and stood up.

Lucy nodded. “It was nice to talk about history in a way that had nothing to do with Rittenhouse, you know? I don’t think I realized how much I’ve missed that world since I took my leave of absence from Stanford.”

“You ready?” he asked.

The car ride to Mason Industries was a silent one. Lucy observed Wyatt, noting the tension in his shoulders and his unusual watchfulness. “Is something wrong?”

“No.” He signaled and slowed down to make a turn.

They continued in silence for another couple of blocks before she spoke again. “Something obviously has you… wound up.”

Wyatt glanced over at her. “Just because I have things on my mind it doesn’t mean I’m wound up, Lucy.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Not really.”

Rufus had joked once that he didn’t know which was more annoying – Hotheaded Wyatt who had a lot to say, or Brooding Wyatt who gave everyone the silent treatment. It had been a while since they’d dealt with either but by the time they arrived at Mason, she thought she had an answer to that question.

It was a relief to part ways inside. Wyatt headed to the training gym, and Lucy got set up in one of the conference rooms. She spent the next couple of hours combing the web for clues to any changes that had taken place since Emma’s last jump. When she felt her eyes straining, she took a break and walked to the kitchen for coffee.

A few of the agents that usually trained with Wyatt were at the table sorting through bags of sandwiches. Her stomach rumbled, and she realized she’d skipped lunch. Nodding at them, she opened the fridge to look for one of the containers of Greek yogurt she kept there, only to find they were gone.

Lucy turned to the coffee bar and poured a cup, stilling when she heard Wyatt talking behind her. He was looking in one of the bags as she turned around. She smiled when he looked up and started to walk around him, but his hand on her arm stopped her.

“I ordered something for you,” he said. “I figured you might have forgotten to eat before we left since you were reading.”

She took the bag he handed her, surprised that he’d even thought about it considering his earlier mood. “Thanks. I thought I had yogurt, but someone raided my stash.”

“It’s from that deli you like – chicken salad sandwich, those weird chips and a fruit cup.”

Lucy smiled. “Quinoa chips.”

“Any luck with the research?”

“Nothing so far. My best guess is that she’s trying to influence things on a small scale, and especially financially, in order to benefit Rittenhouse.” She shrugged. “If she’s only tweaking small things, it may take a while for the bigger picture to emerge, which isn’t a comforting thought.”

“No, it’s not.”

The silence that fell between was awkward, and Lucy held up the bag. “I should go eat and get back to my research. I’ll see you in the gym at five.”

Lucy ate while she listed possible angles that Rittenhouse could be exploring. Jiya came and went, checking on her as she usually did when she arrived at the office. At a quarter to five she emailed what she had to Agent Christopher and then went to the women’s locker room to change before heading to the gym. The other agents were still there, though they’d stopped training and were standing around talking. The lone woman in the group, an athletic blonde named Shay Forrester, threw a bottle of water to Wyatt, who grinned as he caught it. Lucy had seen her around for a couple of months and thought she was part of the extra Homeland security detail Christopher had ordered.

Wyatt was different with these soldiers and agents. Most of them had a shared military background which colored their interactions. They were comfortable training with one another, and they were good. Whenever she watched Wyatt train with them, she understood why he’d suggested it because the training sessions he had with her and Rufus didn’t even compare.

Though he had seemed more relaxed in the break room, Wyatt was back to being distant as they practiced the self-defense moves she’d learned. He barely touched her – in fact, he barely came within feet of her if he could help it. Lucy told herself she wasn’t bothered by it but it was a lie. She’d gotten used to the flirty lessons and by comparison, she felt like she was working with a stranger now.

She wanted to call him on it, though short of asking him why he wasn’t touching her more she wasn’t sure how to approach him. He’d made it clear that he didn’t want to talk about whatever was bothering him. She didn’t like it, but she had to respect it and give him space if that’s what he needed.

When they were done, she grabbed her water and went to shower and change. When she emerged from the locker room, Jiya was waiting for her.

“Hey. Is everything okay?”

Lucy smiled and nodded. “Yeah. Why?”

Jiya’s brows rose. “Because something is obviously going on between you and Wyatt.”

“Trust me, nothing is going on between me and Wyatt.” That was abundantly clear at this point.

“He’s acting weird,” Jiya said. “Rufus told me that he was with Agent Christopher in her office yesterday before they left. Rufus asked him about it but he said he was handling it, whatever it is. Then when he dropped Rufus off at the bar, he said he had to take care of something. It must have been at least five or ten minutes before he came inside.”

“Well, whatever it is he doesn’t want to talk about it.” Lucy bit her lip as she considered this new information. She could always talk to Christopher but she knew Wyatt wouldn’t appreciate her going behind his back like that.

When Rufus and Wyatt finished, they walked over to join them.

“Want us to meet you at the bar?” Jiya asked. “We could get the orders started.”

Rufus nodded but Wyatt hesitated. “The guys are headed over to a western bar. The invitation was for all of us, if you want to come.”

Rufus and Jiya exchanged a look and then shrugged. “Okay. Lucy?”

Lucy looked down at her clothes – dark jeans, a red silk top, and a white jacket. She had a feeling she was going to feel out of place. “That’s fine.”

Once again Lucy found herself in the car with Wyatt, and this time she left him to his thoughts. When they arrived at the bar she wasn’t surprised to see that it was just as loud as she’d thought it would be. It catered to a casual crowd, and her heels crunched against empty peanut shells as she crossed the room to the large table the Mason agents had secured.

Lucy took one of the three chairs on the end near Rufus and Jiya, leaving Wyatt to sit next to Agent Forrester when he returned from the bar with beers and Lucy’s white wine. She’d never been in this type of bar before, so she took some time to look around and observe. Nothing about it was her scene – not the music, and certainly not the décor.

A few people were dancing on the other side of the bar, a two-step followed by a line dance. She wondered if Wyatt knew those dances. Probably, she acknowledged, since he was from Texas. A week ago it might have been fun to come here with him. She tapped her foot experimentally, finding the rhythm.

“You want to give it a try?”

Startled, Lucy looked over at the agent next to her. Jones? Johnson? She couldn’t remember. He was probably her age, and he’d spoken to her in passing at Mason before. “Oh, no thanks. I’m okay with observing. It’s the anthropologist in me, I guess.”

Wyatt was staring at her but she turned her attention back to the dancers. Their food arrived, and while it was much better than she’d expected, she only ate a few bites from her barbecue chicken plate. Rufus and Jiya seemed as out of place as she did and had fallen into a discussion about video games that Lucy had a hard time following since she’d never played games like that.

Agent Jones-Johnson tried to talk to her a few more times. He asked her about the books she’d published and her classes at Stanford, but she could tell he was less interested in her work than he was in gauging her willingness for a hook-up.

Her head was starting to hurt; she pressed her finger to the wrinkle she could feel between her brows. She wondered how much longer Wyatt planned to stay and suddenly wished she had her own car.

* * *

 

Wyatt told himself to stay out of it. Johnson was kind of an ass, but he knew Lucy could handle guys like that. He could tell by her expression that she was onto his sudden interest in her classes and books. Still, he lost track of the conversation around him as he watched Lucy.

No matter the time period or what she was wearing, Lucy exuded class and elegance. It was ingrained, probably from being raised in an upper middle class and educated household. She was the kind of woman he never would have thought about approaching in life-before-time-travel, and she looked entirely out of place in the bar, as did Jiya and Rufus. But Rufus enjoyed the food, and he and Jiya could talk nerd culture anywhere. Lucy, on the other hand, picked at her food as she watched people dancing across the room. She’d seemed interested in the two-step, tapping her foot along with the beat, but she declined Johnson’s offer to dance with her.

Whether it was the noise or Johnson’s continued attempts to engage her in conversation, she looked tired. She had started rubbing her finger between her brows the way she usually did when she was feeling stressed.

He was just about to ask her if she wanted to leave when she stood up. “I think I’m going to head home.”

Wyatt stood up too, but she made a dismissive motion with her hand. “You should stay. I’ll catch a ride with my security detail.”

“I’ll walk you out,” he said. But she was already halfway to the door, and Jiya looked concerned as she hurried after her.

Rufus put some money on the table to cover their part of the tab and looked at Wyatt. “It’s okay, we were ready to leave anyway. I’ll see you later.”

Wyatt sat down. Something in Rufus’ expression bothered him, like the other man was disappointed in him.

“So you’ve worked with Dr. Preston for a while now. I guess that must be interesting,” Johnson was saying. “She seems a little too tightly wound to be in the field.”

He’d had about enough of Johnson. Before he could say anything, Shay beat him to it.

“Why? Because she shot you down again tonight?”

“It’s true man. I don’t even think she knows your name.” Sgt. Perry tipped his beer toward Johnson in a mock salute. “I’m pretty sure she called you Agent Jones last week.” Everyone at the table laughed except Johnson and Wyatt.

“Lucy is smart – smarter than anyone at this table by a long shot. She’s resourceful. Maybe she’s not trained like we are, but she’s been field tested a hundred times over at this point. I’ve seen soldiers with a decade of experience crack under lesser circumstances.” Wyatt kept his eyes on Johnson as he spoke. “She doesn’t have to prove it to anyone here.”

Johnson raised his hands. “Okay, white flag. No offense meant.”

The conversation picked up again, but Wyatt was quiet. He waited another thirty minutes before leaving and driving back to the safe house. Lucy’s security detail was stationed outside, but the Reliant detail that had been following them earlier was now gone.

Lucy’s apartment was dark. He stood outside her door for a few minutes and then walked to his own apartment.

* * *

 

It was surprisingly easy to avoid Wyatt for the rest of the weekend, despite the fact he lived down the hall from her. Lucy made a trip to the nearby market on Sunday, getting enough groceries to last for a couple of days. Then she slipped Brian’s book into her bag and drove to the boardwalk.

She found her favorite bench and settled in for an afternoon of enjoying the ocean air and sunshine. When she got hungry, she grabbed dinner at one of the food trucks and switched to people watching. The fair weather encouraged family outings, and many married couples were out with their kids doing normal family things.

Coming here grounded her, and not just because it was where her own family had often come when she was young. When things got hard, and she wondered how much more of the time travel madness she could take, this place reminded her of what she was fighting to preserve. History, yes, but also these families who had no idea how easily their lives could be torn apart. Worse, they wouldn’t even remember what they’d lost.

A few tables down, a man was having lunch alone. A couple of women had approached him but each time it ended in a polite rejection. She amused herself for a few minutes by trying to guess his occupation. She finally decided on off duty cop and moved on to the next table, where two older women had their heads together. Amy would have said that one day it would be them here, older and grayer, but still up for a good sisterly gossip session.

When the sun went down Lucy drove home. Judging by the lights coming through the window Wyatt was home, but she didn’t even pause on the way to her own apartment.

Monday was another slow morning. She left early and drove herself to Mason, telling Wyatt that she had lunch plans and needed her own car. She spent the morning continuing her research and then met Brian for lunch at one of her favorite open air restaurants. They had dated once, years ago while they were in grad school together. He was handsome, funny and smart, and she struggled to remember why they’d drifted apart. And unless she was reading him completely wrong, he wasn’t opposed to the idea of going out again.

Even if she took her feelings for Wyatt out of the equation, she knew it would never work. He’d asked her about the special project she was working on for Mason, something she couldn’t discuss other than to tell him it was classified. Assuming she could work around that, she lived in a Homeland safe house and had round-the-clock security. Any relationship she started with a civilian at this point was probably doomed before it even started.

The fact that she now thought of herself as a non-civilian was part of the problem.

They were paying the bill when Lucy saw him – the same man she’d seen at the boardwalk the day before was paying for a takeout order. A chill crept down her spine. She told herself it was probably nothing, and the city could be a surprisingly small world. She wouldn’t have expected to run into Brian at the bar the other night either.

The next time she looked he was gone. She felt paranoid as she walked back to her car, gripping her keys tightly and glancing around. The Homeland agents were parked a block down from her, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being watched by someone else.

Lucy went straight to Agent Christopher’s office when she got back to Mason. “I think someone might be following me.”

The older woman looked up from her computer screen with concern. “Did anyone approach you?”

“No, but… I noticed a man at the boardwalk yesterday, and I saw him again today when I met a friend for lunch. And I know that it doesn’t necessarily mean anything. I just got a bad feeling when I saw him again today.”

Christopher pulled a folder from a drawer and handed it to Lucy. “Was it one of these men?”

She opened the folder, and her heart slammed against her chest when she saw the dark haired man in the photo. “Yes, this is him – the one on the passenger side.” Suddenly, anger replaced her earlier fear. “If you knew that someone was following me, why didn’t you tell me? I almost had a heart attack driving back over here, wondering if they were going to try to force me off the road and grab me.”

“I’m sorry. I assumed Wyatt would have told you. The man you saw used to be Delta Force. He works for a private security group called Reliant now. Wyatt already spoke to him, Lucy, and he says that they were hired as extra security for you. He wouldn’t say who the client was, but Wyatt believes it’s your mother.”

“Wyatt knew about this?”

“I’m sure he just didn’t want to worry you, Lucy.” Christopher took the folder and put it back in the drawer. “Your detail knows who they are, and they’re keeping an eye on the situation. I don’t think there’s cause for alarm at this point.”

“Right.” Lucy forced a smile, thanked the other woman and then marched down the hall to the training area. Wyatt was there with Agent Forrester and another agent. He was pulling off his boxing gloves, having just finished a sparring session.

She waited for him to look up before she spoke. “I’d like a word.”

He frowned. “What’s wrong?”

She crossed her arms and raised her brows, waiting for him to follow her out of the room. She walked down the hall to one of the empty offices that bordered the control area. From the window she could see the lifeboat as well as Rufus and Jiya sitting at their stations working on something.

Wyatt closed the door behind him and joined her near the window.

“Why didn’t you tell me that my mother hired someone to spy on me?”

“Christopher told you?”

“No. No one told me. I found out the hard way when I realized the same guy I saw at the boardwalk yesterday was also outside the restaurant where I was having lunch today.” The more she thought about it, the angrier she felt. “You’ve known about this since Friday, haven’t you? Why didn’t you tell me?”

Wyatt shrugged, and his stance was deceptively casual as he looked out toward the lifeboat. “I’m handling it, so I didn’t see the point in you worrying about it.”

“You didn’t see the point?” Lucy stared at him, waiting for him to look back at her. “The point is that this is my life. I have a right to know if Rittenhouse is having me followed.”

“I don’t know what you want me to say, Lucy. Team safety is my job, and like I said, I’m handling it. Walker was in my unit – I know him, and I got a good read on him and the situation when I talked to him on Friday night. If I thought you were in any immediate danger, I would have told Christopher.”

“What I get to know or not know isn’t your call to make, Wyatt.” She pointed to the lifeboat. “Out there then yes, team safety is your job. I’ve always trusted your judgment. But outside these doors you’re supposed to be my friend, not just a soldier tasked with protecting the team.”

“Okay.”

Lucy thought she’d feel better after clearing the air, but nothing about this conversation was making her feel calmer. Wyatt was as detached now as he’d been for the last couple of days, and she was tired of it.

“Forget it,” she muttered, walking around him and out the door. She ran into Agent Christopher coming down the hallway.

“Emma just jumped – Baltimore, July 26, 1812,” Christopher told them.

“That’s the War of 1812,” Wyatt said.

“War was declared in June,” Lucy said. “America was violently divided about the war, politically speaking, but opposition was considered treason by many citizens. It led to a mob mentality and the Baltimore riots in June and July of 1812. One of the worst incidents was on July 27. The first casualties of that war were on the streets of Baltimore, not on the battlefield.”

“Well let’s make sure Emma doesn’t get the opportunity to make a bad situation worse,” Christopher said. “Be ready in thirty minutes.”

* * *

 

Jiya tried not to watch the clock when the team was away. She’d realized early on that it could drive her crazy, so she made a point of keeping herself busy with work. She was fully absorbed in a coding project when the blast of air signaled the return of the lifeboat.

She stood up and waited anxiously for the doors to open, confirming that her friends and boyfriend were back safe.

Lucy was the first one out. She slid down the side, her bulky skirts causing her to stumble on the platform. She looked like she’d been through a literal war. Her hair was loose, and her skirts were filthy and torn. Wyatt didn’t look much better as he jumped down after her.

“We’re not done talking about this,” Wyatt called after Lucy, who was already walking away.

“You may not be done, but I am,” Lucy said without even bothering to look at him.

Jiya stared at them. She didn’t think she’d ever seen them this angry with one another. Lucy headed straight for the wardrobe dock, and Wyatt shot after her. Everyone in the control area grew quiet as the sounds of their argument starting up again drifted out.

When Rufus joined her at the computer station, she asked, “What the hell happened?”

“Honestly? I don’t know exactly. The riot we were expecting ended up being twice as bad, thanks to whatever Emma pulled behind the scenes. It was chaos, and we lost Lucy for a little while. Wyatt was losing it when we split up to look for her. He found her first, which you’d think would make him happy, but they’ve been arguing like this ever since. Wyatt wants to do one thing, Lucy objects. She proposes a plan, he objects. I’ve been playing mediator for the last day.”

Jiya hugged him. Wrinkling her nose, she backed up and said, “Sorry, but you really smell. Hit the showers and I’ll buy you dinner.”

Rufus sniffed his shirt. “As far as I’m concerned, the most important date in history is the date deodorant was invented, which was in 1888, by the way. It just took a couple decades to catch on with the smelly masses.”

* * *

 

After Lucy changed, she went to the conference room for debriefing. Agent Christopher, Wyatt and Rufus were already there, as well as Mason. She made a point of taking the farthest chair from Wyatt.

Agent Christopher looked between them with a frown on her face. “I know that high stress situations mean tempers also run hot, but I don’t like to see my team arguing the way you two were when you got off of the lifeboat. Is there something you need to tell me?”

“As long as Wyatt acknowledges that I have a job to perform on these trips, we’re good,” Lucy said in a tight voice.

“You were reckless,” Wyatt shot back.

“Yes, I got distracted and got separated from you in the crowd. But Emma was with Tecumseh, who wasn’t supposed to be there. The fact that he was there tells me this is a string Emma pulled somewhere along the way. Tecumseh supported the British during the war, and getting the tribes involved that early, on either side, could have had catastrophic consequences to the timeline.”

Lucy’s head was pounding, and she was exhausted. Getting caught up in the mob had been scary, and she knew she had scared Wyatt, but he’d been a complete ass when he found her. Their constant arguments over the last twenty-four hours had left her feeling off balance. She desperately needed to escape to her apartment and sleep for a day.

“Well it’s still America, so obviously Emma didn’t do whatever you thought she was doing that made you run off in the middle of a street riot,” Wyatt said.

Christopher held up a hand. “Okay stop. I’m afraid we don’t have time for this because Emma has already jumped again.”

“Is it the Hatfields and McCoys?” Rufus asked. “Because that would be appropriate.”

“Do you two need a timeout before we proceed?” Christopher asked Lucy and Wyatt. When her question was met with silence, she continued. “Lucy, the War of 1812 concluded in March of 1815 with no change to American independence and both countries agreeing to go back to pre-war status quo. Does that sound generally correct?”

Lucy nodded.

“Okay, then you can research the particulars later. According to Jiya, Emma jumped to New York, November 1900. Is there anything special about that time period? Anything that connects it to the last jump?”

Lucy thought about it for a minute. “The period of time between 1898 and 1945 was crucial for New York in becoming a center for American communications, finance and commerce. The five boroughs were consolidated in 1898, and some of the first and most famous skyscrapers were built. By 1920 a quarter of the largest corporations were headquartered there.”

“You have about three and a half hours before the lifeboat will be charged. I suggest you all use it to get some rest and get your heads back in the game.”

Lucy didn’t look at Wyatt as she left the conference room. Mason had turned some offices off the wardrobe dock into a barracks of sorts. The cots weren’t as comfortable as her bed, but she was out as soon as her head hit the pillow.

The smell of coffee and a gentle touch on her shoulder woke Lucy a few hours later. She opened bleary eyes to see Jiya standing next to her cot holding a large cup of coffee.

“I know you could probably use more than three hours of sleep, but we need to get you dressed,” she said, her tone apologetic.

Lucy sat up and took the coffee gratefully. “Thanks.”

In the dressing room she placed her modern clothes in a locker and put on the combination that Jiya had left for her. Jiya returned to lace her into the corset.

“I read that this was called a Health Corset,” Jiya said. “Maybe it will be more comfortable?”

“A corset is a corset, but it’s an improvement over ones from the nineteenth century. This one was designed to give women a curved shape – they called it the S-curve.”

The dress was cumbersome. It fit tightly in the waist and across the hips, but the bodice and sleeves were puffy and heavily embellished with ruffles and frills. The skirt flared out into a series of ruffles and flounces. All of the extra material made walking difficult, especially in the decorative little boots she wore.

Jiya started pulling her hair up and pinning it. “Are you and Wyatt going to be okay?”

Lucy started to say yes, of course they would. Only she wasn’t so sure anymore. “I don’t know. I feel like he’s dealing with something, or going through something. Whatever it is, he’s not sharing with me or with Rufus.”

“Well, you’ve been through a lot together in the last year. Whatever’s going on with him, maybe he just needs some time.”

“Maybe.”

Jiya placed the hat on Lucy’s head and pinned it into place. “There.”

Lucy used a little concealer and blush to cover signs of her physical and emotional exhaustion. If she was going to get through this next jump with Wyatt, she needed to get herself under control.

* * *

 

Finding Emma in New York should have been difficult, but within an hour Wyatt had spotted one of her men. They followed him to an alley just east of Park Row, where it appeared Emma was waiting for someone.

“I think this is Theatre Alley,” Lucy said quietly. “Except there’s no theatre here now, and it’s a strange place for a meeting.”

Soon two men joined her in the alley. One of them looked familiar and when he stepped out of the shadows of the building, she recognized him.

“That is August Belmont, Jr.,” Lucy said.

“Who is August Belmont?” Rufus asked.

“He was the grandson of Commodore Matthew C. Perry of the U.S. Navy, for one thing.”

“Commodore Perry fought in the War of 1812 and in the Mexican-American War,” Wyatt said. “She was pulling strings with the War of 1812 a couple of days ago, and now she’s meeting with the grandson of one of the most famous naval commanders, who helped establish the curriculum for the U.S. Naval Academy. What are the odds they’re both Rittenhouse?”

“Belmont attended Harvard. He was an investment banker, and in less than two years he’ll form the Interborough Rapid Transit Company to help finance the first underground subway line. It’s possible these trips were about recruiting this family into Rittenhouse.”

After a few minutes, the group split up. Emma, Belmont and two of her men began walking toward the Park Row Building. The other man who’d accompanied Belmont went in the opposite direction.

“Rufus, you follow the mystery man. Lucy and I will follow Emma and Belmont. We’ll meet back at the hotel this afternoon,” Wyatt said.

The Park Row Building was an imposing sight against the New York skyline. At twenty-nine stories, it was currently the tallest building in the world. “There are over nine hundred offices inside, with thousands of workers and thousands more that come and go on a daily basis. Finding Emma inside might be like looking for a needle in a haystack.”

“Good thing she’s not going inside then,” Wyatt said. Sure enough, Emma parted ways with Belmont in front of the building and walked around the side into another alley. “Stay behind me.”

Lucy followed Wyatt. He was peering around the corner when she felt something poke into her side. When she looked up it was to see one of Emma’s men holding a gun on her.

“Wyatt.”

But he already knew they’d walked into a trap.

She held her hands up and walked into the alley behind Wyatt.

Emma smiled. “Dr. Preston. You and your team are becoming a nuisance, and I’m afraid I don’t have time to be worried about looking over my shoulder while I’m here.” She nodded at one of the men, who grabbed Lucy’s arm and started pulling her away from Wyatt, who lunged after her.

“Uh-uh,” Emma said, raising her own gun. “If you’re a good boy, you’ll get her back when I’m done.”

“Like hell,” Wyatt said.

What happened next was a blur. The man holding Lucy shoved her against the side of the building. From the corner of her eye she saw Wyatt struggling with the other man.

Her skirts were too cumbersome to kick out at her assailant. She cleared her head, trying to remember any of the defensive moves Wyatt had taught her. The man was holding her by the shoulders, so she brought her arms up inside and hit the inside of his arms with her elbows, breaking his grip. That the move worked surprised both of them, and he hesitated just long enough for Lucy to punch him right in the nose.

The amount of blood that started pouring down his face was shocking. Lucy shook her hand and ran to Wyatt, who had knocked out the other man.

“Run,” Wyatt said. He pulled her toward the building.

Lucy heard two shots behind them. She felt something pop against her side and then her arm but didn’t slow down.

“What the hell are you doing?” Emma shouted.

Inside the building they mingled with the crowds of people. To their left, people were getting off the elevators.

Lucy looked over her shoulder and pulled on Wyatt’s hand, alerting him to the fact that Emma’s man was following them. Wyatt swore and pulled her toward the bank of elevators. The elevator operator nearest them was helping a woman disembark when Wyatt pushed him aside and pulled Lucy into the elevator car behind him.

“Hey!” The elevator operator attempted to get on behind them, but Wyatt pulled the gate closed.

“How do you start this thing?” Wyatt asked. He was running his hands over the rheostat.

“I think there should be a handle or a lever that you move to go up and down,” Lucy said.

“Got it.”

The elevator car started rising amid the whirring noise of pulleys and gears. Lucy leaned against the wall of the elevator to catch her breath and allow the blind panic of the last five minutes to subside.

Suddenly, a series of popping sounds could be heard, the lights flickered, and Lucy was thrown to the floor as the elevator car started falling.

**A/N: Sorry for the cliffie! I was trying to edit all of it tonight so I could post parts 2 and 3, but I’m tired. I’ll get back to editing tomorrow though. If you have questions about my stories, you can find me on Tumblr and Twitter, same username as here.**

**I realized after I posted last week that I forgot to rec a fan video, which is something I want to do with every post, or at least every story. So, my fan video rec this week is by Oulina – “The Feeling – A Kiss I Will Never Forget” – check it out on YouTube.**

**Up Next – Trapped in the elevator, Lucy and Wyatt finally have a long overdue conversation about their feelings and what that means for them going forward.**


	3. Chapter 3

Wyatt stumbled as the elevator car dropped. When his head bumped against the wall, he gripped the rheostat to regain his balance. There was a screeching noise that made him grit his teeth, like something scraping against metal, and the car jerked to a stop.

Lucy was sprawled on her side a couple of feet away. He swallowed past his nausea and knelt beside her. “Lucy? Are you okay?”

“I think so.” Her voice shook, and he could see her arms trembling as she pushed herself up and tried to scoot back against the wall.

Wyatt helped her and then stood to assess their situation. The electricity was out in the elevator, but there was some light coming in through the elevator gate. He opened the gate a few inches to allow more of the dim light to illuminate the interior and leaned out into the elevator shaft, just enough to see that they were between floors. Above them he could see some type of frame holding them in place against the sides of the elevator shaft.

“We only made it up about a floor and a half,” he said. He thought about what happened in the alley. “Emma planned this.”

“What? How?”

“She wanted us out of her way, so she let us find her. She figured if taking you didn’t work then they would herd us into this building, we’d probably get on one of the elevators – I’d lay money down on the elevators being rigged,” he explained. “That popping sound right before the elevator fell was a small explosion, maybe remotely detonated once her man saw which elevator we got on.”

“She could have killed us.”

“Even if we dropped from this height, I doubt it would kill us. How stable do you think the elevator is?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” Lucy answered. “I’m a historian, not an elevator expert.”

Her breathing was rapid, and she was trembling so violently he could hear her teeth chattering. Wyatt knelt in front of her again. “Lucy, you need to slow your breathing down before you hyperventilate.” He reached out and grasped her shoulders. “Hey – look at me.”

She nodded. “Okay.”

He waited for her to look up at him. “In and out, slowly. Breathe like I taught you in our training sessions.”

Wyatt unpinned the big hat she was wearing. Tossing it aside, he cupped the back of her head and focused on breathing with her. It took a couple of minutes for her to calm down.

“I hate elevators,” she said in a small voice.

She was still shaking, and he recalled her fear of tight spaces. He sought to distract her. “I know you’re not an elevator historian, but you must know something about them. What do you think stopped us?”

“The safety brake,” she said. “Elisha Otis invented the first modern elevator with a safety brake and demonstrated it at the New York World’s Fair in 1854. It’s what made skyscrapers possible – that and electricity. His company probably installed this elevator.”

“So we can expect the elevator inventor himself to come and get us out, huh?”

“Elevators go all the way back to Archimedes’ time. And Elisha Otis is dead, so it will probably be his sons or grandsons. The Otis Elevator Company is still the world’s largest elevator manufacturer even in our time. But electrical problems were common in 1900, and this is just one of ten elevators. We might be here for a while before they realize the car is stuck between floors.”

“Look who’s an elevator expert, after all,” he said in a teasing tone. He squeezed her shoulders, letting his hands slide down to the tops of her arms. He frowned when he felt something wet on her upper right arm. “Lucy, you’re bleeding.”

Lucy looked surprised as she glanced down at her arm. “Oh.”

Wyatt kept his touch gentle as he held her arm toward the light. The two holes in the puffy sleeve, back to front, confirmed his suspicion. “That bastard shot you.” A wave of anger accompanied the realization. He’d assumed that Emma’s flunky was shooting in order to herd them to the elevator. Now he wondered if he’d actually been trying to hit Lucy.

“I felt something when we were running but I didn’t realize…” she paused and swallowed hard. “How could I not know I was shot?”

“Adrenaline. There were two shots. Were you hit anywhere else?”

“I felt something on my right side, too.”

Wyatt ran his hand lightly down her side, pausing when he felt more torn fabric. After probing inside, he sighed in relief. “The bullet didn’t break the skin here.”

Lucy was quiet while he made a tear in her sleeve to get a better look at the wound on her arm. The heavy bleeding had slowed; still, the wound was deep enough to require stitches. “It’s a graze, but you’re going to need stitches when we get back.”

He used his pocket knife to cut a strip of cloth from the bottom of her petticoat and then wrapped it around her arm.

“Do you think he was trying to hit me?”

He tied off the modified bandage and nodded. “Two close shots like that? Yeah, I do.”  And he was going to return the favor the next time he saw him.

“It’s just… I’ve been assuming that since Emma is working for Rittenhouse that they wouldn’t try to kill me.”

“Well, I think you broke his nose. He might have reacted out of anger rather than a plan.” He could feel her trembling again. “By the way, that punch? Not bad.”

Wyatt took her right hand and checked for any swelling or fractures. After determining she’d only suffered some minor swelling and bruising, he gathered her close and hugged her, shifting until he was leaning against the elevator wall with Lucy tucked into his side. Gradually her trembling subsided and her arms crept around his waist.

“Looks like we’ll be stuck here for a while.” He wasn’t as sorry about that as he probably should be because after the tension of the last few days, it felt good to hold her like this.

She shifted her face against his shoulder. “You’ve been a real jerk this week.”

There was anger in her voice, but it was the hurt and uncertainty that hit him like a sucker punch. He tightened his arms around her. “I’m sorry.”

“Can you at least tell me why?” she asked. “I think I deserve that much.”

She deserved more than that. More than him, if he was being honest with himself.

There had been so many thoughts going through his head for the last few days that he wasn’t even sure where to start. “Seeing you the other night at the bar, with your friend… it got me thinking, I guess.”

“What?” Lucy pulled away from him just enough to look at him. “Wait a minute. Are you jealous? That’s what this was about?”

“Lucy…”

“You realize that even if you had a reason to be jealous that you have no right to be? We had one conversation about possibilities, months ago, and I was fine with that. I didn’t want to push it because I knew you needed time. We both needed time. But instead of talking to me about this you just pushed me away.”

“You’re right,” he said. Guilt welled in him. “I admit I was jealous, but it wasn’t just about that. It got me thinking about things I haven’t thought about in a long time. Things I don’t like thinking about. Things like Jessica, and our marriage. How you and I fit into that.”

“Wyatt, I would never try to replace Jessica.” She looked away from him, hands twisting in her lap.

“Hey. No.” Wyatt ducked his head to meet her eyes and reached for her uninjured hand, threading their fingers together. “That’s not it either, Lucy. This is about me, not you. The truth is that if Jessica had never met me, she’d probably still be alive. And she probably would have been happier, too.”

Lucy stared at him. Her other hand settled over their joined ones. “You told me once that it was your fault she died. What happened that night?”

He leaned back against the elevator wall and pulled Lucy with him. She refused to let go of his hand and settled her left arm against him so their hands rested against his waist. He was grateful to have that connection to her, and he couldn’t help worrying that when he told her the truth she’d pull away.

“What I told you before, about the lightning bolt? It was true. When I met Jess, I fell hard and fast, and it was mutual. And for a while? It was good. Perfect, even.” He smiled as he thought about that idyllic time. There were so many good memories with the woman he’d loved that it was easy now to forget how wrong things were in the end.

“It didn’t last?” Lucy asked softly.

“Jess and I talked about my job before we got married. I’d seen it before with other soldiers’ wives and girlfriends. Some women can handle military life and some can’t. For a while it was fine – Jess weathered the deployments like a champ. But when I was recruited to Delta Force, things changed. My missions were more frequent, they were classified, and deployments got longer. She wanted to start a family, I wanted to wait. What she really wanted was for me to leave the Army.”

* * *

 

Lucy held Wyatt’s hand tightly. He was finally opening up to her, but it wasn’t what she’d expected to hear at all. Wyatt had loved his wife so much that she always imagined they had the kind of perfect marriage she’d only seen in movies.

She listened without comment as he told her about the frequent fights they had, and how it all fell apart on the night she died.

“We were at this dive bar called the Pelican Lounge in San Diego. We’d been arguing that day but that night was a celebration for a friend – another soldier – so we went. Jess ran into an ex-boyfriend at the bar and things just escalated. I was jealous and drunk, and on the way home we had the worst fight of our entire relationship. Jess told me to pull over. She got out right there on the side of the road. And I was so mad that I left her there.”

Her eyes burned as she held back tears. Ever since the night Wyatt admitted that his wife’s death was his fault, she’d wondered what happened – what had mired him so far down in guilt that he couldn’t let go. She finally understood, and her heart broke for him all over again.

“It was only twenty minutes but by the time I cooled down and went back for her, she was gone. I drove up and down that road for over an hour looking for her. At first I thought she’d be waiting for me at home. When she wasn’t, I waited for her, thinking she went to a friend’s house. Hours passed, then days, and this sick feeling of dread wouldn’t go away because I knew something had happened. No matter how mad she was, she wouldn’t have disappeared like that on purpose. Two weeks later the police found her strangled in the bushes on the side of that road.”

Lucy wanted to say something. She just doubted that anything she said would change how Wyatt viewed Jessica’s death. It wasn’t his fault, but she could see how someone as honorable as Wyatt would blame himself for his role in a series of events that had such tragic consequences.

“That’s why I stole the lifeboat, Lucy. I already felt something for you by then, but I had to try to change things because Jess deserved better. The hell of it is that I’m not even sure we’d still be married if I did change things because as much as I loved her, I didn’t want to leave the Army for her. Looking back, I think maybe we wanted different things and I don’t know if love was enough, for either of us.”

Wyatt wasn’t looking at her anymore. His hand loosened around hers, like he was expecting her to let go.

“If Jessica loved you, Wyatt, I don’t think she would want you to blame yourself. Not like this.” She cupped the side of his face and waited until he looked at her. “I’m so sorry that she died because you’re right – she deserved better than to die like she did. But at some point you have to start letting go of the guilt.”

He closed his eyes and gave a slight nod. “The other night after I got home from the bar, I was thinking about her case. In my old apartment I had every article or piece of evidence I could find up on a wall, and I spent my free time on my own investigation. I boxed it all up when I moved to the safe house, and it’s still in a box in my closet.”

“What are you going to do with it?”

“I don’t know.” He sighed and turned his head to look at her again. “I can’t let it go completely. But I don’t want to be stuck in the past anymore, either.”

“What if I helped you?” Lucy asked. “We can organize it, and I’ll help you do research.”

Wyatt stared at her. A few tendrils of hair had fallen when he removed her hat, and he brushed them back with a touch so whisper soft she shivered. His thumb stroked against her cheekbone. Even in the faint light his eyes were impossibly blue.

“You and I are so different, Lucy. Before all of this, you would have ended up with a guy like Noah or your professor friend, not a grunt like me. If we don’t work for some reason, I worry about how that affects us as a team.”

Lucy tightened her hand around his. “Shouldn’t I get a say in that?”

“Of course. I just wanted to lay it all out there – everything that’s been going on in my head since Saturday.”

She leaned her head against the wall again. “You’re right. Before all of this, I dated Noah types and Brian types. I probably wouldn’t have dated a soldier because I wouldn’t have understood anything about that life.” She paused and thought about it for a minute. “I worry sometimes, too. There’s a certain singularity to what we do, and a very finite number of people who understand it. I quit thinking of myself as a civilian at least twenty time jumps ago, Wyatt, so I don’t see me making things work with someone who doesn’t know what I’m doing. But I wonder if you and I will work when the mission ends.”

Wyatt suddenly smiled. “What, you think we’re like that movie Speed?”

“I don’t know that movie.”

“They said something like relationships that begin under intense circumstances never last,” he explained.

She laughed. “I guess that applies to us, huh? If I’m being completely honest, I’m not that good at relationships even under the best of circumstances. Apparently I have control issues.”

“Really? Shocking.” He leaned in and pressed his lips against her forehead. “I think at this point you and I have seen each other at our worst. I know you’re bossy and you like being in control. You know I have a temper and sometimes I don’t think things all the way through. But one thing I know for sure is that the feelings I have for you aren’t going to go away when the mission ends, Lucy. I also think that in some ways, we’re more alike than we think we are.”

“What ways?” she asked, curious.

“I know my Grandpa Sherwin would have liked you because I can see in you the qualities he taught me were important. You have integrity and dedication, and you believe in doing what’s right even when it’s hard. The night I met you, I honestly didn’t think you’d last more than two or three missions, and you proved me wrong right off the bat. You understood what was at stake. You made sacrifices for the good of the mission. It’s one of the reasons we learned to work so well together.”

She’d never thought about it like that, but those qualities were all things she’d seen and admired in him as well. The support she’d received from both Wyatt and Rufus had made all the difference, but she’d surprised even herself by how well she’d learned to cope with the demands of a mission-oriented life.

“There’s something else I worry about,” she admitted. “Ever since I found out my mother is part of Rittenhouse, and especially since I found out she’s spying on me, I worry that she’ll use you and Rufus against me. That my feelings for you could be leveraged to make me do something, or somehow fall in line with what she wants.”

“I’ve thought about that,” he said. “The thing is, they already know they can do that. Flynn knew it – it’s why he kept me behind when he sent you and Rufus after the Doc, and why he took you with him to Chicago. Emma knows it too, Lucy. I think today proves that.”

He was probably right. They both sat quietly for a while, lost in their own thoughts. When Lucy shifted, she accidentally bumped her arm against the wall and winced.

“You okay?”

“Yeah. I’m really tired.” Between the craziness of the jump to 1812 and only three hours to rest before jumping to New York, not to mention blood loss and the adrenaline rush of the last hour, she was starting to fade.

Wyatt moved until she was leaning back against him rather than the wall. “Try to sleep. We have plenty of time to talk later.”

He was so solid behind her. She settled against him with a sigh as his arms wound around her waist. She was asleep moments later.

Sometime later she heard a loud thump and woke with a start. She blinked and sat up to allow Wyatt to stand. “What was that?”

“I think something dropped down on top of the elevator car,” he answered.

“Lucy? Wyatt?”

Wyatt grinned. “It’s Rufus.”

“Are you guys alright?” Rufus asked.

“We’re okay,” Wyatt called back. “How did you know we were here?”

“I followed that guy until he met up with Emma again. I heard Emma’s men talking about the elevator. I dropped a modified sling on top of the elevator car, and I’ve rigged a pulley system to get you out of there.”

Lucy watched as Wyatt climbed out of the elevator car and reached up to grab the sling. “Can it hold us together? Lucy was shot – it’s not too bad, but she lost some blood so she’s weak.”

“It’ll hold.” Rufus sounded concerned.

Lucy joined Wyatt at the opening of the elevator car. She could see Rufus above them, and the absence of other noise told her that she’d been asleep for a while. The work day had obviously ended. She made the mistake of looking down and swallowed hard at the black pit below them. Wyatt said they weren’t that far up, but it was too dark to see the bottom of the elevator shaft.

“Okay, Lucy, I’m going to sit in the sling and hold onto the rope, which means you need to hold onto me tight. How’s your arm?”

She moved her arm up and down, flexing her elbow in the process in order to test her range of motion. “It hurts, but I can hold on.”

He gave an approving nod.

Lucy sat in Wyatt’s lap and wrapped her arms around him. “I should probably mention that I also don’t like heights.”

“It’s not that far. Promise.”

He was right. It took less than a minute for Rufus to pull them up. As soon as they cleared the doorway, Rufus helped them through. He hugged her carefully.

“Are you okay?”

“I will be.”

“Emma’s already jumped back to the present,” Rufus told them. “The guy I was following? I heard Emma call him Lowell.”

“He could be part of the Boston Lowells,” Lucy said. “They were one of the original colonial families – they made their fortune in textiles and shipping. A member of that family served as president of Harvard University for over twenty years, starting around 1909. But the man we saw is too young to be Abbott Lowell.” She leaned against the wall behind her.

“We can figure all of this out later,” Wyatt said. “You need medical attention, Lucy. Can you make it back to the lifeboat?”

She was already dreading the long walk back to the lifeboat, but she nodded. “Let’s go.”

* * *

 

Wyatt paid the vendor for two coffees and a cup of herbal tea for Lucy and then joined Rufus back in the waiting room. Lucy had opted to see a plastic surgeon at the hospital in the hopes that the stitches would leave minimal scarring. Wyatt had wondered if it was the same hospital where Noah worked, but they hadn’t seen him.

Rufus accepted the coffee gratefully. “Thanks.”

Wyatt nodded as he sat. “She should be done soon.”

“You know, when I heard you were stuck in an elevator together, I wondered if you’d both survive.”

“Look, I’m sorry things were bad on the last jump,” Wyatt said.

“Bad is an understatement. Tense, awkward, uncomfortable – all better adjectives.” Rufus shook his head. “You can deny it if you want to, but I have eyes, Wyatt. I know you have feelings for her. What I don’t know is why you pulled a one-eighty this week.”

“It’s a long story,” Wyatt told him. “If it makes you feel any better, she and I worked it out while we were in the elevator together.”

“So what you’re saying is, you two are finally happening?”

Wyatt smiled and shook his head. “What I’m saying is we both laid our cards out on the table, and we know where we stand with each other. But we also recognize we’re part of a team, and part of a mission.”

“Well, as a member of the team, I have an observation,” Rufus said. “When I met you and Lucy, she was a pile of neuroses and you were – I’m sorry to say – kind of an angst-ridden asshat. And before you say anything, I know I wasn’t exactly team player material either.”

Wyatt raised a brow. “I’m assuming you have a point?”

“Jiya said something a few weeks ago – that it was kind of poetic that Lucy’s name means light because that’s what she’s been for you, Wyatt. She lit up all those dark spaces inside you. I can see it, and so can Jiya. And you’ve been just as good for her, in case you’re wondering.”

“I think we’ve all been good for each other,” Wyatt said. “I thought I knew everything there was to know about being part of a team, but I’ve learned a lot from both of you.”

Rufus clapped him on the shoulder. “I’m going to head home. I’ll bring Jiya over to see Lucy tomorrow, though.”

“Okay.” Wyatt watched Rufus leave and then walked over to the information desk, only to pause when he saw Carol Preston standing there. “You’ve got some nerve coming here.”

Dr. Preston turned, apparently unsurprised to see him there. “I’m here to check on Lucy.”

“You know, I get that I’m expendable. But Lucy is your daughter. You can’t turn her to your way of thinking, or manipulate her like you used to do, and suddenly she’s expendable too?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” she said as she tried to walk around him.

He moved in front of her again. “She was shot today! Since you’re here, I’m assuming you know that.”

She crossed her arms. “And the person responsible for that has been dealt with. Whatever else you might think of me, I do love my daughter.”

Wyatt shook his head. “I don’t buy it. I think you see her as a pawn, and I’m here to tell you I’m onto you.”

“I’m curious that you think you’re expendable,” Dr. Preston said in a sudden change of topic.

“You’re saying I’m not?” Wyatt asked. He wondered what kind of head games she was playing now.

“Let me ask you a question, Master Sergeant Logan. If I told you that I could bring your wife back, but the price was that you walk away from Lucy and all of this, here and now, what would you say?”

He stared at her, wondering if she was serious. That she could stand there and throw his dead wife in his face as some kind of ultimatum made him see red. “I’d tell you to go to hell.”

It was another of her manipulations but even if it wasn’t, he was long past the point where he’d be able to abandon Lucy to Rittenhouse and the cold-blooded woman standing before him.

“And that is why you’re not expendable,” she replied. “We all have enemies. Take care of her.”

Wyatt followed her to the exit and watched as she got into a car and drove away.

* * *

 

Lucy yawned as she left the bathroom and joined Wyatt on her sofa. She’d changed into loose pajama pants, a plain white t-shirt, and a well-worn blue cardigan. After wearing corsets throughout history, she found that she had a new appreciation for her comfortable twenty-first century loungewear.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

“I’m kind of floating,” she admitted. She leaned back against the cushions and smiled at him. She’d had a couple of IVs at the hospital – between the fluids and pain meds, she was feeling better by the time they left. The numbing agents they’d injected into her arm hadn’t worn off yet, so she wasn’t feeling the pain of her stitches, either.

He smiled. “I’ll bet. They gave you a pretty good cocktail at the hospital.”

Lucy studied him for a minute. “You’re kind of beautiful when you smile. I missed that this week.”

“And now I know you’re high,” he said, laughing. “Come on. Let’s put you to bed.”

Lucy followed him into her bedroom and waited as he turned the covers down for her. She slid into bed, careful not to put any pressure on her injured arm. She wanted to ask him to stay with her. Even in her medicated state, though, she knew it probably wasn’t a good idea.

“I’m going to sleep on your couch,” he said. “Just yell if you need anything.”

“Okay.”

He switched on lamp in the corner and then turned off the overhead light. She wondered how he knew she wouldn’t want to be in the dark tonight. Somehow, he always seemed to know what she needed even before she asked for it. And every time she fell for him a little harder.

They’d turned a corner together in the elevator. She knew it, and she sensed that he did too. It might take time, but she was hopeful about where this new path would lead them.

**A/N – I got this much edited, so I decided to post. I’ll get Part 4 up (last one, for real this time) in a couple of days. Today’s fan vid rec is “Walk through the Fire” by Carrie Campbell – I thought it actually fits this chapter (and the fic in general) pretty well. Check it out on YouTube and give these vidders some likes!**

**So, I’ve developed a lengthy head canon for Wyatt and Jessica. I’m assuming he met her while stationed in San Diego at Pendleton. Before, I thought they might have met in Texas but if she’s running into an ex at a dive bar (aka probably a military bar) in San Diego, then it makes sense she’s from that area. He could still have proposed to her in Texas – maybe his grandfather was alive then, or maybe he just wanted her to see where he was from, or propose in a place that was special to him. I’m also going to assume the ex she was talking to at the bar was military since they were there celebrating a graduation of some kind for another soldier.**

**Their relationship, and the problems I describe here, are ones that I’ve seen play out in military families many times. My ex was an Army officer with a specialized unit, so I know first hand how hard it is to deal with. I’ve seen women get caught up in the romance of dating a soldier, and then they can’t handle the reality of deployments and long separations. They get lonely, and even if they don’t cheat or develop flirtations, soldiers worry that they will because they’ve seen it happen to guys in their units.**

**Wyatt mentioned that Jessica wanted a family and he thought they had time. It’s all conjecture, but for their marriage to blow up the way it did the night she died then they had to have problems already. Significant ones – I’m going to assume that they’d had marital problems for some time, such as arguments about starting a family, his lengthy absences, etc. His PTSD probably played into that, and it makes sense that she might have been pushing for him to get out of the Army. And if Wyatt knew she wasn’t happy, I bet he started getting paranoid about her leaving him or finding someone else, hence his jealous blowup at the bar.**

**Anyway, for now this is my head canon about them. I just don’t believe they had anywhere near a perfect marriage, and I think it’s entirely possible they’d be divorced now if she had lived. As always, I’ll adjust my head canon as we get more information, but this is what fits best to me at the moment.**

**As for Lucy, she's 34 and still single, and she admitted she'd never been in love like Wyatt had. In fact, she seemed to have a slightly cynical outlook on the whole idea of "The One." We know she has control issues, so it makes sense that it carries over into all aspects of her life** **, and that at least one ex had accused her of being controlling before.**

**Thanks so much for reading! Last part coming soon!**


	4. Chapter 4

Lucy woke to the smell of coffee. For a moment it was all too easy to imagine that she was back in her mother’s house, the three Preston women hanging out in the kitchen together. Reality crashed that image as soon as she opened her eyes.

She sat up slowly and ran her hands through her tangled hair. She remembered that Wyatt was going to stay on her couch, so she assumed he was the source of the breakfast sounds and scents. After showering and changing into her favorite pair of worn, soft jeans and a t-shirt, she padded barefoot into the living room. Across the bar, she could see Wyatt standing at the counter near the stove.

“Hey,” she said, wandering over to see what he was doing.

He glanced over at her and smiled. “Good morning. How are you feeling?”

“My arm hurts, and I have a couple of colorful bruises, but otherwise okay.” Nodding at the peppers and onions he was chopping, she asked, “Where did you find peppers and onions?”

“It turns out that when you combine the contents of your fridge and mine, we have the enough for a few decent meals,” he replied. “I’m making southwestern omelets.”

She poured a cup of coffee and then pulled a stool over so she could watch. He was surprisingly good with his hands, which she supposed shouldn’t be a surprise. She’d seen him handle guns and knives with ease, and he’d proven to have a deft touch with lock picking as well. And she’d be lying if she said she hadn’t occasionally wondered what else those hands were good at.

“Can I do something to help?”

“I don’t want you straining your arm, but you can get the juice out,” he said.

Lucy raised her brows when she saw that her refrigerator contained a number of new items. “You weren’t kidding when you said you combined the contents of our refrigerators.”

“I thought I might stay on your couch for a couple of days.”

Setting the orange juice on the counter, she leaned against it and looked at him. “What aren’t you telling me?”

Wyatt was beating eggs in a large bowl, and at first she thought he might ignore her. Then he set the bowl down. “Your mother came to the hospital last night.” He crossed his arms as he leaned back against the counter facing her.

“Oh. What did she want?”

“She wanted to know how you’re doing.”

“You mean after her Rittenhouse goon shot me?” She gripped her coffee mug tighter to conceal the way her hands were suddenly shaking. She still felt hurt and angry every time she thought about her mother, but this latest trip to the past had proven the woman was far more ruthless than even she’d suspected.

“I don’t think that was planned, Lucy. She mentioned that guy had been dealt with, which saves me some trouble, I guess.”

She smiled at that. When she met Wyatt’s eyes, she asked, “That was it? She just asked about me and left?”

He looked back at her, silent. Then he reached out and tucked her hair behind her ear. “That was it. Now, if you want to eat this morning, I should get back to breakfast.”

Within fifteen minutes, they were sitting at her small table with omelets, toast, freshly cut bananas and apples, orange juice and coffee. Lucy hadn’t felt very hungry when she woke up, but now her stomach was rumbling.

She’d never had a southwestern omelet before – each bite seemed to have a perfect proportion of egg, onion, peppers, tomatoes and cheese, and it was flavorful without being spicy. “This is really good.”

“You sound surprised,” Wyatt said, smiling at her. “It’s the twenty-first century. Men do cook.”

“I know. I just wouldn’t have thought you did,” she admitted. He’d managed to hunt and cook food for her and Rufus when they’d been stranded in 1754, but that had been an emergency situation.

“We didn’t have the money for restaurants when I was growing up. My grandpa had a small garden. I spent enough time in the kitchen to pick up a few things, and as an Army bachelor, it was useful to know how to feed myself. It’s nothing fancy but I get by. What about you?”

Lucy shrugged. “My mom liked cooking when she had time, and Amy and I helped before she got sick. Truthfully, I’m better at ordering in.”

When they finished eating, Wyatt refused to let her help clear the table or wash up.

“I’m not an invalid,” she said.

“Maybe not but that arm, not to mention your hand, will heal faster if you’re careful these first few days,” he told her. “I’ve had enough of those injuries to know what I’m talking about.”

Lucy brought her laptop to the table while Wyatt was cleaning up in the kitchen. After they found all of the information on Rittenhouse that her grandfather gathered for them, Agent Christopher started having it all scanned into an archive on a secure server. And just in case Emma changed something, a copy of that information was also stored on the lifeboat. She’d have to cross reference the data later, but she wanted to start her research on the families she knew Emma had contact with on these jumps.

She started with the Baltimore riots, dismayed to see the casualties were far higher than in the original timeline. When she looked up Tecumseh, it was to find that he initially fought for the British and then switched sides later to help the Americans.

Wyatt handed her a fresh cup of coffee as he joined her at the table. “So what’s the damage?”

Lucy shook her head. “It’s not good. Emma must have convinced Tecumseh to switch sides. As for the riots, a lot of people died who weren’t supposed to. And for what?”

“Probably as a warning,” Wyatt said. “The riots were clap back against people opposing the war, right? People see that kind of violence, including Tecumseh, maybe they decide they’re on the losing side.”

“The outcome of the war didn’t change, but there must be a reason for all of this. It’ll take time for me to read about the major and minor battles, and to see if any names disappeared or have been added to those accounts.”

“What about this last trip?”

“There’s nothing about Commodore Perry, Belmont or anyone in that family in the Rittenhouse archives,” Lucy said. “I still think Emma might be trying to recruit families. Think about it – Homeland has arrested several of their most prominent members. Maybe they want to recruit influential people who, looking back, meet their standards and who won’t be tracked.”

“And the other guy? The one that Rufus followed?”

“The Lowells are different – they are in the archives. So if the man Rufus followed was actually a member of the Boston Lowells, then we need to try and figure out which one.”

“Rufus and Jiya are coming over later, so you can pick his brain about whatever he saw and heard while following the guy.” Wyatt leaned over and grabbed a notebook and pen from a stack of papers on the table. “Tell you what, Professor. You read, I’ll take notes.”

She raised a brow. “Were you always a good note-taker in school?”

“Not really,” he said, the corner of his mouth tilting up. “If I’d had more teachers who looked like you, I probably would have been better.”

Lucy smiled as she met his eyes. The sunlight streaming through the window made them look a lighter, more brilliant shade of blue. She thought she could probably look at them for hours. She wondered where they stood after their talk in the elevator. He’d said they would have time to talk about everything later, and he wasn’t freezing her out like he did before.

One step at a time, she thought as she turned her attention back to her computer.

* * *

 

Lucy healed quickly under Wyatt’s watchful eye. He’d stayed on her couch for about a week – longer than necessary, but she’d enjoyed having him there so much that she never complained or suggested he go back to his own place. It became the new normal to help him in the kitchen while he made dinner, or to sit on the sofa watching a movie before bed. And when he did finally leave, her apartment felt emptier than it ever had.

It had been three weeks since their jump to 1900, and Emma had not taken the mothership out since then. Lucy wondered if that was because her mother wanted to give her time to heal, though she quickly squashed any thoughts of her mother’s sentimentality. If she wanted to beat Rittenhouse, she knew she couldn’t allow her mother to manipulate her emotions.

Lucy had been productive during their respite from time traveling. She thoroughly researched the War of 1812, finding changes to only a few minor battles rather than any of the big ones. Commodore Perry’s role had been a little more prominent but largely unchanged, and Lucy was more convinced than ever that Emma was on a recruitment mission. Considering that Commodore Perry had been such an influential figure in military history, it was concerning. At the moment she had no way of knowing if their recruitment had started with him or with Belmont.

The man Rufus followed, Lowell, proved to be more elusive. Rufus gave her a full accounting of where he went and with whom he interacted. He’d followed the man to a shopping district where he met up with a woman and a young girl, probably only fourteen at the most. Lucy had judged the man to be in his mid-thirties; unfortunately, that age range fit any number of men in the Lowell family, and Rufus didn’t get a name for the woman or the girl. The only thing he could tell her was that he thought the woman was a nanny rather than Lowell’s wife.

After that he’d gone to a bank and had handed over a large case when he met with Emma again. Since Emma didn’t open it while Rufus was watching, they could only assume that the case contained money.

Her grandfather had amassed a lot of information about various Rittenhouse families, including the Lowells – marriage, birth and death records, letters, even a few family Bibles. It would take time; still, she hoped the answer to the mystery man’s identity was there, which was why she was spending her Friday in one of the Mason conference rooms surrounded by musty old papers once again.

When Jiya walked in, she was so absorbed in her research that she didn’t even hear the door open. The touch on her shoulder startled her.

“Sorry,” Jiya said when Lucy jumped. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“No, it’s fine.” Lucy pressed her fingers between her brows and stretched her neck from side to side to work out the stiffness she never seemed to notice when she was working.

“It’s almost five. Don’t you have a lesson with Wyatt today?”

“Yeah, it’s my first one in weeks,” Lucy replied as she began to gather her research and place it back into boxes on the table. “I could have started at least a week ago, but Wyatt insisted that I wait.”

“He was worried about you,” Jiya said. She helped Lucy put away the last of the files and grabbed one of the boxes to carry back to Agent Christopher’s office. “So what’s going on between you two?”

“Nothing.”

“Well, nothing looks a lot like something lately. You said you talked when you were stuck in the elevator together, right?”

“We did. Obviously we’re not fighting anymore like we were, but…” Lucy paused as they reached Christopher’s office. They dropped off the boxes and then walked down toward the mezzanine.

“But?” Jiya prompted as she leaned against the railing.

“But we both had some reservations we put out there, and I think we’re taking some time to feel our way through that.” It was the only reason she could think of for Wyatt not to bring it up again. His behavior toward her spoke to his feelings being unchanged, so she thought he was giving her time.

“Any time I was afraid of something, my father used to ask me a few questions,” Jiya said. “If you do the thing you’re so afraid of, what is the best possible outcome? And what’s the worst? What is the one thing you’re so afraid of that it’s holding you back, and is it really bigger than the potential reward?”

“I guess I wonder if we’re together if it will make things better or just complicate things,” Lucy admitted. “My life is like this giant train wreck, Jiya. I know there’s a lot to gain here, but I’m afraid of losing even more than I’ve already lost.”

“But that’s something you have in common, right? If I had to guess, I’d say Wyatt has some of those same worries,” Jiya told her. “And there’s no way that you don’t recognize things would be better if you two were together. So what is the thing that’s holding you back?”

Lucy started to say that her biggest fear was one of them dying, but she knew it would be a lie. “Jessica. That one day we come back from one of these trips and she’s alive. I’m afraid that would be the beginning of the end.”

In spite of Wyatt’s confession that his marriage wasn’t perfect, she couldn’t shake the persistent fear that if it came down to her or Jessica that he would choose his wife. The worst part was that she couldn’t fault him for it if he did.

She could tell that her admission had surprised Jiya.

“Don’t you think you should probably talk to him about that?” Jiya asked quietly.

“I don’t know how to talk to him about it without sounding like a horrible human being,” Lucy said.

Jiya sighed. “Okay, I can’t pretend that I understand what that’s like, but I have about a hundred and one fears when it comes to me and Rufus. They range from you guys not returning from one of your trips and me never knowing what happened to all of you dying. And then there are the ones where I don’t even remember you because the timeline changes and I never dated Rufus, or maybe I never even came to work for Connor Mason. But do you know the one thing that I’m still sure of?”

“What?”

“That I’d rather be happy with Rufus today than worry about all of the what ifs. And if for some reason it all ends tomorrow, I still wouldn’t trade that happiness to avoid the pain because I love him. And I know he feels the same way.” Jiya reached out and put her hand over Lucy’s on the railing. “You already have the feelings you’re afraid of. If you knew that you’d lose him tomorrow, would you really rather not have felt them at all?”

Lucy knew the answer to that question because of Amy. Even if she never got her sister back, she knew without a doubt that she always wanted to remember her.

Lucy hugged Jiya. “Thank you for this.”

“What are girlfriends for?” Jiya said. “First round’s on me tonight while we’re waiting for the guys.”

* * *

 

Wyatt was sure he’d never smiled more than he did around Lucy. There had been sadness in his life, but there had also been happy times – times with his grandpa or with Jessica, back when their relationship was good. His grandpa’s love was always a symbol of much needed stability, while his love for Jessica was a series of breathtaking highs and crippling lows.

What he felt for Lucy was different, somehow steadier. She reminded him of that old Army compass his grandpa had given him. It had been through a few wars, literally, but it always pointed north in spite of being a little banged up. His relationship with Lucy was the same – banged up and occasionally rough around the edges, but despite everything he always found himself back here, the needle to her north.

She was practicing a new move he’d taught her, her expression one of total concentration as she watched herself in the mirror. He smiled again when her eyes met his in the mirror.

“What?” she asked as she turned to look at him over her shoulder.

“Nothing.” He waved her over. “Come on, let’s see how you handle a blitz attack.”

“A what attack?”

“Surprise attack,” he explained. “I’m going to come at you, and you see if you can remember the specific countermoves.”

They practiced for the next five minutes, with Wyatt occasionally stopping to correct her. Touching her this way was becoming a form of slow torture. Ever since their time in the elevator, he’d been over the pros and cons of their relationship at least a thousand times. He didn’t want to do anything to hurt her, and he didn’t want to be hurt, either. They’d both had enough of that to last a couple of lifetimes at this point.

He still couldn’t shake the growing conviction that they were inevitable.

Wyatt lost his train of thought when Lucy stumbled, tripping and bringing him down to the mat with her. He turned to take the brunt of the fall and grunted when she landed on him.

“Sorry,” she said. She braced her forearms on the floor and looked down at him with concern. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” he said softly. He reached up and pushed her hair behind her ear, smiling again when she shivered. He didn’t know if she realized that she’d lowered herself against him, her soft curves now pressed more firmly against his body.

Being this close to her felt like his first time on the tilt-a-whirl at the West Texas State Fair and Rodeo – exciting, dizzying, and completely exhilarating. She was staring down at him, those whiskey brown eyes searching his. He wasn’t sure which one of them moved first but suddenly her lips were on his.

There was nothing tentative about this first real kiss. He coaxed her lips apart and tasted her, one hand tangled in her hair, his other anchoring her hips to his. When she rocked down against him, he flipped them over and pressed her into the mat as he slanted his mouth across hers again and again. She made tiny, gasping sounds of pleasure when his lips drifted across her cheek and down her neck, and her fingers grasped at his hair, pulling in a painfully pleasurable way.

The sound of a door opening outside the gym pulled them back to the present and the very public setting. For a moment Lucy didn’t move. Then she placed her hand along his cheek, her fingers stroking gently. Wyatt turned his head and kissed her palm before getting to his feet and helping her up.

Lucy’s cheeks were flushed as she grabbed her water bottle and took a long drink. A tiny droplet escaped the corner of her mouth; his eyes followed it, and all he could think about was catching it with his tongue. She seemed to know what he was thinking when she looked over at him.

Shay and a couple of the guys had walked in, but Wyatt barely paid attention to them. He watched as Lucy threw everything back in her bag.

“I should go shower,” she said. “I told Jiya I would ride over to the bar with her.”

He nodded. “Okay. I’ll see you over there.”

Shay walked over but Wyatt kept his eyes on Lucy until she was out the door. When he looked over at his friend, she had a knowing expression on her face.

“About damn time,” she said under her breath.

Wyatt grinned and shook his head before joining the others on the mat for their last training session of the day.

* * *

 

Lucy felt like she was wearing a blinking, neon sign telling the world she’d just kissed Wyatt, for real this time. She’d thought the first kiss was good. Even though it had been a spur-of-the-moment attempt to convince Bonnie and Clyde of their relationship, she’d felt something, and she could tell it had taken Wyatt by surprise.

Comparing that kiss to the one in the gym was like comparing a black and white photo to a high definition, Technicolor film. She could still taste him - could still feel his hard body against hers, his hands in her hair and against her hips, and the scrape of stubble against her skin. And fears be damned, all she could think about was doing it again.

She was sitting at the bar with Jiya when some of the Mason agents arrived and snagged their usual table. A few minutes later Rufus and Wyatt walked in. His eyes swept over the crowd, seeking her out, and everything else faded as they stared at each other across the room.

A woman jostled Lucy’s elbow as she tried to get the bartender’s attention. She glanced over to see Jiya smiling at her. “What?”

“You two, and the way you look at each other. It’s like… I don’t know. Like you’ve found your own space-time continuum or something,” Jiya replied with a smirk. “Tell me again how that’s not worth it.”

Lucy looked back at Wyatt. He was at the table now, talking to Rufus. He’d left the seat next to him free, and she knew without asking it was for her.

Dinner felt incredibly long. No matter what she did, she couldn’t distract herself from his nearness – the heat of his body next to hers, the way his lips brushed her ear when he leaned over to repeat something amid the noise of the bar. His fingers brushed against hers more than once, sending little sparks of awareness on a lightning path throughout her body.

Agent Jones – Johnson? - tried engaging her in conversation from across the table a couple of times, but she wasn’t really paying attention. Wyatt was also quiet and she wasn’t surprised when he met her eyes and tilted his head toward the exit in a silent question. She nodded and stood, letting him help her with her jacket.

“I think we’re going to get out of here,” Wyatt said, dropping a few bills on the table.

“Are you guys coming into the office tomorrow?” Rufus asked.

Jiya raised a brow at Lucy, which she tried to ignore. The blinking, neon sign was back, sending heat into her cheeks. She really hoped no one else had noticed that.

Wyatt just shrugged. Lucy felt his hand at the small of her back as he guided her to the door and out to the car. Instead of remotely unlocking the doors, he opened the passenger side for her and helped her inside.

The anticipation was killing her on the interminable car ride back to the safe house. Something was happening, though – something new. She turned her head to watch him. As they passed under street lights, the shifting shadows made him look just a little bit unreal. The silence in the car should have felt uncomfortable, but instead it lent itself to a dream-like quality weaving itself around her.

Lucy thought about what Jiya said earlier. If she was brave enough, she could have this. She could have him. Maybe it would last, and maybe it wouldn’t. She’d never wanted anything as badly before in her life, though, and that had to count for something. Amy had always encouraged her to fight for what she wanted – to grab life with both hands. If ever there was something worth fighting for, she suspected this was it.

Wyatt walked her to her door, and she handed him her keys. Inside, she removed her jacket and draped it over the arm of the sofa, dropping her bag next to it. And still neither of them spoke.

When she turned around, he was closer than she’d realized.

His eyes searched hers as he said, “You told me once that the present isn’t perfect but it’s ours. You were right. The world is dangerous. Our missions are dangerous. And in another timeline maybe we wouldn’t have worked. But in this one? I think we’re better together than we are apart. So tell me what you want, Lucy.”

She swallowed hard against her fears and an emotion she was still hesitant to give a name to. “You. I want you.”

Lucy stood, frozen, as Wyatt closed the distance between them. His hands rested against the sides of her neck and moved up, fingers threading through her hair. His thumb brushed along her cheekbone. Her eyes drifted closed as his lips first brushed against her forehead, her nose and then her cheek and the corner of her mouth.

She turned her head, bringing their lips together. Unlike their earlier kisses, this was a series of gentle brushes, like he was learning the shape and feel of her mouth against his. It was a new kind of intimacy for her. She rested her hands against his shoulders, his neck, and his jaw, her thumbs seeking out his dimples when he smiled against her lips.

Soon the gentle caresses weren’t enough. He pulled her into his body, his arms wound tightly around her waist. Hands roamed under shirts, and his kisses deepened. At some point he’d walked them backwards to the wall, and Lucy was grateful for its solid presence behind her as Wyatt kissed a hot, wet trail down the side of her neck.

Then his lips were back on hers for a moment before he pulled away and leaned his forehead against hers. “Do you want to stop?”

Lucy shook her head. “No.”

He took her hand and led her to the bedroom. His jacket had fallen somewhere on her living room floor, and he helped her pull his t-shirt up and off. His fingers worked the buttons of her blouse, pushing it back before they fell to her jeans as she undid his belt.

Lucy kicked her jeans off and stood before him in a matching black lace bra and panty set, something he seemed very appreciative of. She shivered as his hands slid down her waist and cupped her hips, long fingers sliding beneath the elastic. The room was dark except for the faint light coming in from the living room, but it was enough to see the expression of naked longing on his face.

“You’re so beautiful,” he said.

“So are you,” she whispered. She leaned up and pressed her lips against his jaw, kissing her way down to his pulse point. It was gratifying to feel his heart beating as fast as hers. His hands were pushing at her underwear, sliding them down her legs. She stepped out of them as he unhooked her bra.

Stepping back to the edge of the bed, Lucy barely had time to drop the bra before Wyatt followed. He pushed her back onto the bed and leaned over her, fingers tangled in her hair again as he kissed her.

She arched her neck as his lips drifted down again. Remembering something, she whispered, “Before we forget, nightstand.”

He kissed her again and then leaned over to check inside the top drawer. “I’m glad one of us is prepared.”

“I bought them, you know – just in case,” Lucy said. She supposed that in a way, she’d known even a couple of weeks ago that this was where they were headed.

Wyatt was back to kissing her – her neck, her breasts, and the curve of her hip. Then his lips and fingers met between her thighs and at the first stroke of his tongue against her, she lost her ability to think or even speak as wave after wave of pleasure pushed her toward orgasm.

She pulled him up her body, and he seemed to understand what she wanted. He braced himself on his forearms above her, hands in her hair, and entered her slowly. She stretched up against him with a low moan, grasping at his shoulders as he began to move.

Eventually his slow, almost experimental movements became harder, more aggressive. She wrapped her legs around him as the pressure built between her hips, spreading out in a liquid wave of heat that left her shuddering beneath him, and he followed moments later.

After a couple of minutes Lucy opened her eyes. Wyatt was still lying against her, his face pressed against the side of her neck. He was heavy but it was a welcome weight, and one she wanted to hang onto for a little longer.

When he lifted his head to look at her, she smiled up at him and pushed his hair back off his forehead.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked.

“Just that the present is nice,” she said. “And how I’d like to explore the present a little more this weekend.” She shivered as his fingers caressed the shell of her ear.

Wyatt smiled as he noticed her reaction. “I think that can be arranged, ma’am.”

* * *

 

Jiya poked Rufus when she saw Lucy and Wyatt walking into the building on Monday morning. “They’re here. What do you think? They totally happened, right?”

Rufus looked up and observed them as they walked across the mezzanine. “I don’t know. They look the same to me.” But when they started walking down the stairs, he noticed something new - how Wyatt held a guiding hand low against Lucy’s hip. “Never mind. They totally happened.”

“Do you think they’re planning to keep it a secret?” Jiya asked.

Wyatt and Lucy were standing near one of the conference rooms, talking, and Wyatt’s hand was at her waist.

Rufus snorted. “After all those times Agent Johnson hit on her? Not likely.”

Jiya leaned in and kissed his cheek before turning back to her computer screen. Rufus looked over at his friends again, noting how much happier they seemed now. And there were no two people who deserved a little happiness more than them.

**A/N – And that’s the conclusion for Stuck! This week’s fan vid recommendation is actually two recommendations – You Will Find Me by MadaLore1994 and Breathe by Elladoraxo. Beautiful fan vids – you can view them on YouTube.**

**No beta, and it’s late and I’m tired, so please forgive any mistakes. Hopefully the tiny smut didn’t disappoint anyone. I tend to go for mood over straight smut, mostly because smut writing is something I tend to struggle with.**

**I have outlined two more stories in this universe, as follows:**

**Committed – Lucy and Wyatt are feeling their way through their new relationship when Lucy discovers a link between the Lowell family and a woman who was presumed dead in 1887, but whom Lucy believes may have been committed to the Women’s Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell’s Island, New York. Despite Wyatt’s objections and her own phobias surfacing, Lucy goes undercover to find the woman and meets one of her historical heroes in the process – undercover investigative reporter, Nellie Bly. Meanwhile, Emma delivers a message to Lucy from her mother and Rittenhouse. **

**Blank Slate – I’m still early in the outlining process for this one, so no description yet. I have to think some more about how this story would work. Mostly because I don’t want readers to kill me. **

**I have original writing I’m working on, and some things to work on for other fandoms, but I’ll try to start posting Committed soon. Thanks for reading!**


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